Chair, Professor: REGINA KUNZEL
Faculty 2001-2002: Professors: KUNZEL, K. LEE. Associate Professors: M. LEWIS, REINHARDT*, WONG. Assistant Professors: BEAN, CARTER-SANBORN, L. JOHNSON, KENT**. Visiting Assistant Professor: VERTER. Senior Lecturer: CLEGHORN. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow: SEE. Bolin Fellow: ENGLISH.
GENERAL PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The American Studies Program uses interdisciplinary approaches to develop students' understanding of the complexity of the culture(s) usually labeled "American." Examining history, literature, and other forms of expression, we explore the processes of cultural definition as contested by diverse individuals and groups. We ask new questions about aspects of American life long taken for granted; we also use American culture as a laboratory for testing classic and contemporary theories about how cultures work.
NON-MAJORS, FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS, AND SOPHOMORES
American Studies 201 is open to non-majors including first-year students with Advanced Placement credit in American History. All elective courses are open to students who meet the requirements of the departments that sponsor those courses. American Studies 302 and 403 are open to non-majors with permission of the instructor.
RATIONALE FOR COURSE NUMBERING
The introductory course is offered at the 200 level to suggest the desirability of some preliminary training in college-level history, literature, sociology, or political science. The intermediate course, 302, is offered primarily for juniors, although it is open to sophomores who have had 201 and will be away from campus during the spring of their junior year. 300-level independent study courses are offered to upperclass students. 403 is designed for senior majors; it, like 302, is open to students who can demonstrate adequate preparation to the instructor.
THE MAJOR
Required major courses:
American Studies 201
American Studies 302
American Studies 403
Elective courses:
Eight courses: five should be chosen from one of the specialization fields listed below, the other three chosen from among any of the electives listed. Students are expected to take courses from at least two disciplines when choosing the courses that make up their specializations. Students are also required to take at least one course from a list of pre-1900 courses. Advanced Placement credit in appropriate areas, or departmental courses not listed here, may be substituted for electives in the major, with permission of the program chair.
THE DEGREE WITH HONORS IN AMERICAN STUDIES
Candidates for honors in American Studies will undertake a substantial, year-long independent project during their Senior year. All students who wish to write an honors thesis should consult with a prospective faculty advisor in the spring of their junior year. Applicants should have a solid record of work of high caliber, normally defined as maintaining at least a 3.4 average in courses taken for the major. Students writing honors theses will register for AMST 491, W030, and AMST 492. The awarding of honors will be determined by the American Studies Program Committee, based on the recommendation of the student's advisor and two other faculty readers.
ADVISING
All majors will be assigned a faculty advisor. Majors must meet with their advisor during the first week of classes during the fall semester and at the time of the spring semester registration period in order to have their courses and plans for the American Studies major approved. Both majors and non-majors are encouraged to talk at any time with the program chair or other affiliated faculty about the major.
AMERICAN STUDIES AND OTHER PROGRAMS
Students majoring in American Studies are encouraged to consider pursuing concentrations in African-American, Environmental, and Women's and Gender Studies. Many of the courses counted for those concentrations may also earn credit toward the American Studies major.
STUDY AWAY FROM WILLIAMS
We encourage students to pursue cross-cultural comparative studies. A major in American Studies can be combined with study away from Williams for a semester or a year if plans are made carefully. Many courses that will be approved for College credit may also count toward the American Studies major if their subject matter is American culture.
Students planning to be away in the junior year should have taken American Studies 201 before they leave; those away for junior-year spring term should take American Studies 302 in their sophomore year. Students should consult as early as possible with the chair or their advisor about their plans for fulfilling the requirements of the major.
SPECIALIZATION FIELDS
To provide focus for work in the major, each student will choose one of the Specialization Fields listed below and record this choice when registering for the major. (This commitment can be revised, in consultation with the chair.) At least five electives will be taken from among those designated to support a specialization field. In extraordinary cases, students who wish to do so may be permitted to design their own specialization field. Fulfillment of concentrations in African-American Studies, Environmental Studies, and Women's and Gender Studies may be used as the basis for individually designed specialization fields. All such arrangements must be approved by the American Studies Committee.
CULTURAL PRACTICES
Elective courses:
Cultural practices are the complex means by which peoples of the Americas express themselves, adopting, altering, and inventing artifacts, and social forms and practices.
Anthropology 207 North-American Indians
ArtH/Environmental Studies 201 American Landscape History
ArtH/Environmental Studies 252 Campuses
ArtH/American Studies 259 History of American Photography (Deleted 2001-2002)
ArtH/American Studies 264 American Art and Architecture, 1600 to Present
ArtH/Environmental Studies 305 North-American Suburbs
ArtH 306/Environmental Studies 326 North-American Dwellings
ArtH 307/Environmental Studies 327 The North-American Park Idea
ArtH 352 Topics in American Art: The Crisis of Victorian Painting (Deleted 2001-2002)
ArtH 403 The American House
Comparative Literature 111 Traveling Fictions-Encountering the Other Through Tourism, Time Travel, Exile (Deleted 2001-2002)
Comparative Literature/Spanish 205 The Latin-American Novel in Translation
Comparative Literature/French 215 The Fashioning of Fashion: Theory and Practice
English 123 Contemporary American Short Fiction (Deleted 2001-2002)
English/American Studies 133 The Frontier in American Literature and Film (Deleted 2001-2002)
English/American Studies 209 American Literature: Origins to 1865
English/American Studies 210 American Literature: 1865-Present
English/American Studies 218 Introduction to U.S. Latina and Latino Literature
English/Women's and Gender Studies 219 Literature by Women
English/American Studies 220 Introduction to African-American Writing
English/AMS 231T Literature of the Sea
English/American Studies 338 Literature of the American Renaissance
English/Women's and Gender Studies 341 American Genders, American Sexualities
English 342 Postcolonial Literature (Deleted 2001-2002)
English 347 Henry James
English 349 American Modernism of the 1920s (Deleted 2001-2002)
English 354 Contemporary American Poetry
English 357 Contemporary American Fiction
English 364 Classical Hollywood Comedy (Deleted 2001-2002)
English 371 Feminist Theory and the Representation of Women in Film
English 376/ArtS 384 Documentary Technologies
English 377 Suicides and Survivors (Deleted 2001-2002)
History 148 The Mexican Revolution: 1910 to NAFTA
History 157 The Great Depression: Culture, Society, and Politics in the 1930s
History 175 Families and Social Change: An Introduction to the Study of Private Life
History 301B Autobiography as History: An American Character?
History 353 Politics and Culture in Colonial British America
History 358 The "Good War": World War II and American Culture and Society
History 368/American Studies 246 Cultural Encounters in the American West
History 376 /American Studies 320 Adolescence in America
History 378 /Women's and Gender Studies 344 The History of Sexuality in America
History 379/Women's and Gender Studies 324 Women in the United States Since 1870
History 382 The Black Radical Tradition in America
History/Women's and Gender Studies 386 Latinas in the Global Economy: Work, Migration, and Households*
History 389 Major Themes in the History of Native Americans (Deleted 2001-2002)
History 453 Salem Witchcraft
History 466 /American Studies 364 Imagining Urban America, Three Case Studies: Boston, Chicago, and L.A.
History 471 Methods in Latino Studies: Community, Family, and Identity Formation (Deleted 2001-2002)
History of Science 240 Technology and Science in American Culture
Music 111 Popular Music: Revolutions in the History of Rock
Music 114 American Music
Music 122 African-American Music
Music 130 History of Jazz
Music 140 Introduction to the Music of Duke Ellington
Music 141 Introduction to the Music of John Coltrane
Music 212 Jazz Theory and Improvisation I
Political Science 212 News Media in American Politics
Political Science 239 Political Thinking About Race: Resurrecting the Political in Contemporary Texts on the Black Experience
Political Science/American Studies 332 Fugitive Identities: Slavery and the Boundaries of American Politics
Sociology 215 Crime in the Streets
Sociology 311 Modern and Postmodern Culture
Sociology 368 Technology and Modern Society
Sociology 387 Propaganda
Theatre 210 Multicultural Performance
Theatre/American Studies 211 Topics in African-American Performance: Theatre, Film, and Dance of the Harlem Renaissance
Theatre 213T Paul Robeson: Visible Man (Deleted 2001-2002)
POWER, POLITICS, AND BELIEF
Any political or social movement is ultimately based on a set of beliefs about what the world is, or ought to be. This specialization examines American society in terms of its underlying belief system and ideologies, how these are translated into political, institutional, and cultural life, and how they shape the nature and distribution of power in society.
Economics 208 Modern Corporate Industry
Economics 209 Labor Economics
Economics 220 American Economic History
Economics 237 The Economics of Inequality and Poverty (Deleted 2001-2002)
Economics 355 Feminist Economics
Economics 386 The Economics of Inequality (Deleted 2001-2002)
English/American Studies 218 Introduction to U.S. Latina and Latino Literature
English/American Studies 220 Introduction to African-American Writing
English/Women's and Gender Studies 341 American Genders, American Sexualities
English 342 Postcolonial Literature (Deleted 2001-2002)
English/American Studies/Women's and Gender Studies 346 Women of Color in the U.S.: Public and Private Culture
History 148 The Mexican Revolution: 1910 to NAFTA
History 157 The Great Depression: Culture, Society, and Politics in the 1930s
History 164 Slavery in the American South
History 243 Modern Latin America, 1822 to the Present
History 252 America from San Gabriel to Gettysburg, 1492-1865
History 253 The United States From Appomattox to AOL, 1865 to Present
History 281 African-American History Through Emancipation
History 282 African-American History From Reconstruction to the Present
History 343 Gender and History in Latin America
History 344 Latin-American Revolutions and the United States
History 346 History of Modern Brazil, 1822 to the Present
History 353 Politics and Culture in Colonial British America
History 354 Gender and Community in Early America
History 358 The "Good War": World War II and American Culture and Society
History 364 History of the Old South
History 365 History of the New South
History 368/American Studies 246 Cultural Encounters in the American West
History 370 Studies in American Social Change
History 372 The Rise of American Business
History 379/Women's and Gender Studies 324 Women in the United States Since 1870
History 380 Comparative American Immigration History
History 382 The Black Radical Tradition in America
Women's and Gender Studies/History 386 Latinas in the Global Economy: Work, Migration, Household
History 389 Major Themes in the History of Native Americans (Deleted 2001-2002)
History 453 Salem Witchcraft
History 454 The American Revolution
History 456 Civil War and Reconstruction
History 488T/American Studies 368T The Politics and Rhetoric of Exclusion: Immigration and Its Discontents
History of Science 240 Technology and Science in American Culture
Political Science/American Studies 100 Politics and Freedom
Political Science 101 (section 02) Moral and Political Reasoning
Political Science 201 Power, Politics, and Democracy in America
Political Science 207 Political Elections
Political Science 208 The Politics of Family Policy
Political Science 209 Poverty in America
Political Science 211 Public Opinion and Political Behavior
Political Science 212 News Media in American Politics
Political Science 214 Congressional Politics Today
Political Science 216 Constitutional Law II: Individual Rights
Political Science 218 Presidential Politics
Political Science 219 Constitutional Law I: Structures of Power
Political Science 230 American Political Thought
Political Science 239 Political Thinking about Race: Resurrecting the Political in Contemporary Texts on the Black Experience
Political Science 315 American Political Parties
Political Science 316 Public Policymaking in the U.S.
Political Science 318 The Voting Rights Act and the Voting Rights Movement
Political Science 319 The First Amendment (Deleted 2001-2002)
Political Science/American Studies 332 Fugitive Identities: Slavery and the Boundaries of American Politics
Political Science/Women's and Gender Studies 336 Sex, Gender, and Political Theory
Political Science 338 American Legal Philosophy
Political Science 410 Senior Seminar in American Politics
Religion 221/History 373 American Religious History
Religion 224/History 374 North-American Catholic History
Religion/Sociology 225 Religion and Popular Culture in America
Religion 226/History 381 African-American Religious History
Religion/Environmental Studies 276 Grounding the Sacred: Religion and Ecology in the United States
Religion 277 Apocalypses: Varieties of Millennial Discourse
Sociology 203 Social Inequality (Deleted 2001-2002)
Sociology 206 Religion and the Social Order
Sociology 210 The Construction of Social Problems (Deleted 2001-2002)
Sociology 215 Crime in the Streets
Sociology 218 Law and Modern Society
Sociology 265 Drugs and Society
Sociology 387 Propaganda
SPACE AND PLACE
This route focuses on the human landscape and the built environment. Courses listed below variously undertake the reading of geographical regions, patterns of habitation, imagined spaces, property relations and/or artifacts.
Anthropology 103 Pyramids, Bones, and Sherds: What is Archaeology?
Anthropology 207 North-American Indians
Anthropology 215 Secrets of Ancient Peru: Archaeology of South America
Anthropology 217 Mesoamerican Civilizations
Anthropology/INTR/Religion 273 Sacred Geographies
ArtH/American Studies 264 American Art and Architecture, 1600 to Present
ArtH/Environmental Studies 252 Campuses
ArtH/Environmental Studies 305 North-American Suburbs
ArtH 306/Environmental Studies 326 North-American Dwellings
ArtH 307/Environmental Studies 327 The North-American Park Idea
ArtH 403 The American House
Comparative Literature 111 Traveling Fictions-Encountering the Other Through Tourism, Time Travel, Exile (Deleted 2001-2002)
Economics/Environmental Studies 238 The Regions of America
English 342 Postcolonial Literature (Deleted 2001-2002)
Environmental Studies 101 Humans in the Landscape
Geosciences 105 Geology Outdoors
Geosciences 201/Environmental Studies 205 Geomorphology
Geosciences/Environmental Studies 208 Water and the Environment
History 364 History of the Old South
History 365 History of the New South
History 380 Comparative American Immigration History
History/Environmental Studies 393 Urban Theory
History 466/American Studies 364 Imagining Urban America, Three Case Studies: Boston, Chicago, and L.A.
History 478 The Ghetto From Venice to Harlem
INTR 242/ArtH 268/ArtS 212/Religion 289 Cyberscapes
INTR 252 Service, Community, and Self
Political Science 317/Environmental Studies 307 Environmental Law
Political Science 335 The Public Sphere
Political Science 349T Cuba and the United States
Sociology 215 Crime in the Streets
Sociology 311 Modern and Postmodern Culture
RACE AND ETHNICITY
This specialization takes up the question of American identities as those are determined and sometimes confounded by racial and ethnic difference. How has difference within the American "community" been defined, and by whom? What have been the real historical, cultural, economic, and social effects of these discursive definitions?
Anthropology 207 North-American Indians
Anthropology 216 Native-Peoples of Latin America
Comparative Literature 111 Traveling Fictions-Encountering the Other Through Tourism, Time Travel, Exile (Deleted 2001-2002)
Economics 237 The Economics of Inequality and Poverty (Deleted 2001-2002)
English/American Studies 218 Introduction to U.S. Latina and Latino Writing
English/American Studies 220 Introduction to African-American Writing
English/Women's and Gender Studies 341 American Genders, American Sexualities
English 342 Postcolonial Literature (Deleted 2001-2002)
History 148 The Mexican Revolution: 1910 to NAFTA
History 164 Slavery in the American South
History 243 Modern Latin America, 1822 to the Present
History 249 The Caribbean from Slavery to Independence: A Comparison of Empires
History 281 African-American History Through Emancipation
History 282 African-American History From Reconstruction to the Present
History 286/American Studies 250 Introduction to U.S. Latino Studies (Deleted 2001-2002)
History 364 History of the Old South
History 365 History of the New South
History 368/American Studies 246 Cultural Encounters in the American West
History 370 Studies in American Social Change
History 380 Comparative American Immigration History
History 382 The Black Radical Tradition in America
History 384 Comparative Asian-American History, 1850-1965
History 385 Contemporary Issues in Recent Asian-American History, 1965-Present
Women's and Gender Studies/History 386 Latinas in the Global Economy: Work, Migration, Household
Women's and Gender Studies/History 387 Community Building and Social Movements in Latino/a History*
History 389 Major Themes in the History of Native Americans (Deleted 2001-2002)
History 390 An Intellectual History of Southwestern Indians (Deleted 2001-2002)
History 443 Slavery, Race and Ethnicity in Latin America
History 456 Civil War and Reconstruction
History 470 The Chinese-American Experience
History 471 Methods in Latino Studies: Community, Family, and Identity Formation (Deleted 2001-2002)
History 472 Slavery, Capitalism, and Revolution: The Impact of the New World on Europe, 1700-1900
History 478 The Ghetto From Venice to Harlem
History/American Studies 488T The Politics and Rhetoric of Exclusion: Immigration and Its Discontents
Music 122 African-American Music
Music 130 History of Jazz
Political Science 101 (Section 02) Moral and Political Reasoning
Political Science 213 Theory and Practice of Civil Rights Protest
Political Science 233/AAS 200 Beyond Double Consciousness: Gunnar (Deleted 2001-2002) Myrdal and the Construction of Race as Dilemma
Political Science 249 Latin-American Politics
Political Science 318 The Voting Rights Act and the Voting Rights Movement
Political Science/American Studies 332 Fugitive Identities: Slavery and the Boundaries of American Politics
Political Science 344 Rebels and Revolution in Latin America
Political Science 349T Cuba and the United States
Psychology 341 Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination
Religion 226/History 381 African-American Religious History
Sociology 103 Behind the Rhetoric of Race: Race, Ethnicity, and Public Policy
Sociology 203 Social Inequality (Deleted 2001-2002)
Theatre 210 Multicultural Performance
Theatre/American Studies 211 Topics in African-American Performance: Theatre, Film, and Dance of the Harlem Renaissance
Theatre 213T Paul Robeson: Visible Man (Deleted 2001-2002)
PRE-1900 COURSES
ArtH/American Studies 264 American Art and Architecture, 1600 to Present
Economics 220 American Economic History
English/American Studies 209 American Literature: Origins to 1865
English/American Studies 338 Literature of the American Renaissance
History 164 Slavery in the American South
History 242 Latin America from Conquest to Independence
History 252 America from San Gabriel to Gettysburg: 1492-1865
History 281 African-American History Through Emancipation
History 353 Politics and Culture in Colonial British America
History 364 History of the Old South
History 368/American Studies 246 Cultural Encounters in the American West
History 380 Comparative American Immigration History
History 453 Salem Witchcraft
History 454 The American Revolution
History 472 Slavery, Capitalism, and Revolution: the Impact of the New World on Europe, 1700-1900
History of Science 240 Technology and Science in American Culture
Political Science 230 American Political Thought
Political Science/American Studies 332 Fugitive Identities: Slavery and the Boundaries of American Politics